Since the turn of the new century, the domestic film and television industry has developed with astonishing speed, evolving into a massive industrial complex. By 2014, the annual production of domestic and co-produced television series exceeded 20,000 episodes, ranking first in the world. The intensity of market competition is beyond what the average person could imagine.
Whether producing content in-house or purchasing broadcast rights, television stations rely on advertisements aired during opening titles, closing credits, and breaks to recover costs and generate profit. Ratings are the most critical metric for determining advertising value, making viewership surveys a natural and indispensable process.
In the past, during a period of exponential growth in television advertising revenue, there were as many as a dozen different viewership survey agencies in the country. Lacking fixed standards and plagued by endless backroom dealings and opaque operations, the landscape was chaotic and disorganized. Some agencies didn't even possess the proper qualifications, yet they still brazenly published viewership rankings.
Chapter 257